Motley Fool Stock Advisor: The death of diesel …
Posted By RichC on May 15, 2013
A Motley Fool financial advisory email arrived in my email box this week which caught my eye with a subject line reading “The death of diesel.” While this seems to predict dire news for those of use who are advocates for compression ignition engines, I’ll paraphrase Mark Twain and say that announcement of diesels death may have been greatly exaggerated.
Dear Fellow Investor,
Take a look at The New York Times from Monday, April 22. The front-page article begins…
“The natural gas boom has already upended the American power industry, displacing coal and bringing consumers cheaper electricity…
Now the trucking industry, with its millions of 18-wheelers moving products like potato chips, underarm deodorant and copy paper around the country, is taking a leap forward…”
Internal combustion engines are under pressure with advances in Hybrid, EVs and alternatively fueled or at least assisted propulsion, but really it just means fuel options are expanding, hardly “the death of.” As suggested by the article, natural gas may eventually replace some of the petroleum oil based fuels that power North America’s fleet vehicles and present opportunities in companies that convert engines and vehicles (aka: WPRT), but that hardly brings about “the death of diesel.” New technology and the cheaper and more abundant natural gas is a good thing and means petroleum and bio-forms of diesel “fuel” will have to compete which in turn is an overall positive for our lifestyle and economy. Petroleum will still be available and will still be a very attractive fuel … besides, even with the natural gas boom and improving technologies, diesel is still the most available, portable and efficient fuel available. Try lugging batteries or natural gas capable of powering a vehicle 500+ miles without refueling … and for those of us using diesel, alternatives should keep fuel prices more competitive. The prediction of “the death of diesel” is a bit premature.
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